My first bachlorette party

I was really lucky to be able to attend my friend Martina's bachelorette party in Stockholm last Saturday. Since bachelor(ette) parties don't really exist in Chinese culture, I could only learn about it from the movies. It seemed to me a day for the bride/groom-to-be to enjoy "freedom" as if they'll lose it so miserably after marriage.

Our day started with meeting up at 9am in the house of Martina's friend Helena to prepare for the brunch together. (Meanwhile, 3 other girls went to "kidnap" Martina from her apartment under funny animal masks as a surprise.) Helena's house was very cute and delicately decorated. The dining area was dressed up: beautiful pink flowers in a vase on the table, pink petals on each plate. I was chatting with Martina's teenage girl friends to warm up for the day: make new friends and get ready to practice my Swedish listening skills. I also started the day with a glass of champagne which immediately made me tipsy.

Martina came in super random clothes. She was asked to guess who everyone of us were being blind-folded. The most difficult, of course, was to recognize me through touching my hair, hands, face and the smell. I was glad to surprise her in a nice way.

Once Martina finished her brunch, the girl we invited started to do her manicure and pedicure. And her friends started to ask her questions about her love relationship and her future husband. I can feel the thoughts her girlfriends put into organizing this day of events. I can also feel the celebration of love.

Then we made Martina dressed up like "Matrix" - shiny plastic black tops, pants and a tight red jacket. Part of the tradition of such a party is to embarass the bride-to-be. We headed out to a studio for pole dancing. She was once again nicely surprised because she could move her body in such a sexy way that we applaused and cheered for her many times. All of us, being sexy or graceful or simply like a little boy climbing up and down the poles, enjoyed a quick one-hour in our own ways.

Pole dancing practice was followed by champagne drinking in a nice hotel over looking the city. The last highlight of the day was the gift giving part after dinner. Each friend of hers gave a gift symbolizing their friendship thus she had to guess who gave the gift. Apparently she was one of those cool teenage girls with a beeper, smoking cigarettes with her friends and drinking wisky with her cousin.

Great to experience such a sweet day of bachelorette party. More importantly, great to know more about Martina!